Click click click bang
Sometimes you need to hear or see or feel something to remind yourself that you’re in the world, and that the world is not as mapped out or documented or crushingly familiar as you assumed it was. It may be too much to hope for something that is totally new — and too much to hope that you would understand that something, even if it were totally new — but sometimes it’s enough to stumble across a fresh combination, a riot of renewal, an explosion of elements that may very well take your head clean off.
This is all by way of introducing an up-and-coming, all-girl rock band that I had the good fortune to come across earlier this year, when they played a five-song set at a birthday party of a friend of a friend. I didn’t want to use adjectives like “cool” or “fierce” or “well nigh apocalyptic” to describe them, but I guess I just did. Ladies and gentlemen, please give it up for Russian Roulette.
You’re struck by their look first, of course: before they even play or shriek a note, six attractive young women — seven, counting their indispensable manager — decked out in stylish bright-colored outfits are going to grab your attention. But the ensuing sonic bombardment, which is equal parts attack and appeal and allegation rolled into one guitar-gorgeous, synth-stabbed, soar-voiced, rhythm-booming whole, not only mangles any misconceptions, but gives you hope that the rest of your life may not be as boring as you secretly feared.
I’m going to use another word that I hate using, in order to describe what goes on when Russian Roulette is onstage: synergy. It’s hard to imagine the whole thing in the absence of any of the members. Keyboardist Shai and rhythm guitarist Feanne share vocal duties but seem equally essential while doing it; Val’s ‘80s-influenced synth work weaves wonderfully with Tricia’s body-moving beats. Comparisons are difficult but imagine Le Tigre in “Deceptacon” mode crossed with Brighton-based sextet The Go! Team with a nod to The Runaways and doomed late-‘80s act The Nymphs, with here and there lighter melodic throwback elements not unlike The Pipettes.
High Heels kicked off their birthday party set, an angry pop gem bristling with buzzsaw guitar work and back-and-forth vocals questioning the ideals of beauty. Their repertoire includes a couple of covers — sometimes they begin with a bit of Queer by Garbage, before segueing into a playful, catchy, punk-energetic original called Gondo Gondo. They do a nearly-unrecognizable and face-scorching version of Ikaw Kasi, an old composition by Juan Silos Jr. and Levi Celerio perhaps best known — so far — as a Sylvia La Torre song, giving it an irresistible, propulsive beat, and intricate and immediate guitar lines courtesy of lead guitarist Crissey. Friendship is Friendship; History is History is an original, and their showstopper: as far as I can make out, it is about the past, the future, Japanese war atrocities, and forgiveness or the impossibility thereof. Bassist Dominique doesn’t want to discuss the lyrics in too much detail, but she says that writing the song was “a particularly intense experience for all of us.”
Band manager Marj is cagey on the subject of how they all came together, claiming a common interest in “style, the Smashing Pumpkins and Stanley Kubrick” as the impetus for their collaborations. As for where they’re going from here, she says that they’re not necessarily looking for a label or global recognition — just to play good gigs, have fun, and maybe change some minds while they’re at it.
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Photograph by Jurgen Estanislao of giantflyingrobot.com. Thanks to http://fb.com/makeupbymarj for the wigs. Read more about the members on their blogs: Marj (thetravelingheels.tumblr.com); Shai (lovechic.tumblr.com); Val (quietgirl.net); Feanne (feanne.com); Dominique (konichiwear.com); Crissey (crissey8.tumblr.com); and Tricia (triciawillgoplaces.tumblr.com).
